25. Not Here - Part 2

~ CARA ~

My hands kept shaking and I couldn’t make them stop. I was on the edge of tears, and I didn’t really understand why. Except that watching Rig with Natalie—even the furious Rig—had made it so very clear how well those two knew each other.

Rig with Natalie was the same Rig who slouched around with his friends when there was no one else with them. He wasn’t trying. He wasn’t pretending. Even if he hated her, he knew her. He spoke with her like someone he could be himself with, and never fear losing. Unguarded.

It was the way he’d started to talk to me that afternoon at the fairgrounds, before everything went to shit. That was when I’d realized Rig used arrogance and flirting like a shield. A wall he could hide behind.

But earlier that day his wall had been down. I’d spent hours with the Rig who had nothing to prove and he was… fun. Sweet. Thoughtful. And funny as hell. Hot as hell, too. Unfortunately.

And then I’d kissed him—shocked him. But when he came alive… the hunger in him